"We both had the good fortune to grow up in the hotel business of our parents and to learn about hospitality and authentic South Tyrol gastronomy from the cradle.
[From the left: paternal grandfather, Restaurant Maria with the paternal home]
Since my wife Christine served the guests in her parents' hotel in an excellent manner for years, I decided to go abroad, after becoming a chef and having several experiences in South Tyrol hotels. Among other things, I had two seasons of experience as a "chef de partie" on the luxury liner "Royal Princess", not only to perfect myself in my trade, but also to widen my horizons.
Once I returned to Italy, I managed our beautiful daytime café for 12 years, which had a stupendous sunny terrace in the centre of Merano.
But both of us still had the dream of being able to manage a small hotel together. The road opened up when we met in 1996 and our parents made us the gift of this beautiful land in Avelengo, after our marriage in 1999.
[From the left: our marriage in 1999, Christine and Michael Reiterer with their energetic mothers]
After we overcame the long bureaucratic obstacles, our dream finally came true in 2004, when we built a small Alpen Residence with 16 rooms in 6 months' time. It was anything but easy to offer considerable four-star comforts with only a few rooms ...
Our greatest joy was when our son Martin was born in 2002.
[From the left: our son Martin, our cat Max and our Labrador Moritz]
In 2008 we set out on a great challenge, to purchase another piece of land and enlarge the small Alpine Residence with 30 quality rooms.
At the same time we invested heavily in quality with new relaxation facilities, the silence room, the Alpine Lounge and, finally, our panoramic heated natural swimming pool, in 2009.
Here we are in 2010 and our dream is still incomplete ...
As long as we are healthy, we will continue to work on our wonderful Mirabell hotel for connoisseurs. It is a truly great challenge for us, but our job is to accept it together with our fine and faithful collaborators, looking to the future with trust."
Reflections annotated by Christine and Michael Reiterer
